


Memories

by diamondpawprints



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22163077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondpawprints/pseuds/diamondpawprints
Summary: Joyce seeks help from an unlikely source when she’s convinced by Murray that Hopper is still alive. What they uncover on their journey could change the entire world forever. Are they able to save their family in time and in the process, save the world? Could this give Joyce the second chance she needs to tell Hopper what he means to her?
Relationships: Joyce Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper
Kudos: 26
Collections: Jopper Big Bang 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, so this is it! After months of writing away, here it is! Written for the Jopper Big Bang 2019 over on Tumblr. A huge thank you to SnowChicago99 on Tumblr who drew an amazing piece of artwork for this fic! https://snowchicago99.tumblr.com/post/190125855344/memories
> 
> Just a warning to say that there are a few swear words.
> 
> Enjoy!

His eyes bore into hers as a tear managed to get through the barrier that she had been holding together all day. It trickled down her cheek as she shut her eyes and looked away, unable to look at the photo of him at the front of the church. It was strange that here everyone was, saying goodbye to Jim, but here was no body, no coffin. She wasn’t sure if that made it easier or harder to grieve for him. She turned her head and opened her eyes to see Jim’s friends, colleagues and family, including his ex-wife, who was sobbing uncontrollably. She wanted to hate her for it. After all, it was Joyce who had known Jim the longest, from high-school, through his time as a soldier, to becoming the Chief of Police, saving her son, adopting his daughter and saving the world. Multiple times.

El.

Joyce’s eyes refocused on the dishevelled girl sat next to her. She looked so vulnerable, her grief-stricken face distorted as she tries to stop the tears from flowing. Joyce puts her arm around her and brings her closer, squeezing her as hard as she can. She feels El sobbing, so Joyce kisses the top of her head, stroking her arm to try and calm her. Joyce has been through every stage of grief more times than she cares to remember and her heart breaks for this fragile girl as she starts the long and difficult journey that grief holds. Joyce knows that El will struggle with the emotional rollercoaster that both her and Joyce have been strapped into, but she will be there for her every step of the way, just like she’s her own daughter. Her heart skips a beat at the thought. They could have been a family. Her, the boys, El. Hop.

Hop.

Suddenly there’s a lot of noise around her and she realises that the memorial has finished and everyone is getting up to leave. She shuffles, but El holds on even tighter and Joyce feels her shake her head. 

“Not yet.” Joyce hears the girl whisper.

“Not yet.” Joyce repeats, kissing the top of her head again. She sees Jonathan talking to Flo and they both look over at her. Flo has that pitiful look on her face that Joyce hates, the look where they think she’s going to break into a million little pieces. She never has and never will. Not when she has three children to rely on her. Jonathan approaches.

“Flo says everyone is going back to the station for a get together. Do you wanna go?”

Joyce smiles up at her eldest sadly. “Yeah, give us a few minutes. We’ll be out soon.” Jonathan nods and ushers Will out to get the car.

Joyce and El stay where they’re seated for a few minutes, each silently grieving.

“Do I have to go?” El asks, pulling away slightly and looking up at Joyce, the only mother figure she has ever known.

Joyce smiles down at her. “Of course not. How about Jonathan and Will take you back and I’ll go by myself?”

El nodded, then looked confused and sad. “Where is back?”

“Back home.”

“But, I don’t have a home anymore. Home was where Hop was.”

It had only been a few weeks since Hop had died. Joyce had taken El in to look after her. She had always felt that El was like a daughter to her, ever since she had helped her find Will in the upside-down. She had to protect this girl at all costs, just like her sons, and ever since she had grown closer and closer to Jim, the three had always been “their” kids. 

“Oh, El.” Joyce pulled her back into a hug. “Your home is where we are. I promise to look after you no matter what. You’re like a daughter to me.”

“You’ve always been like a Mom to me.” A tear trickled down El’s cheek, which Joyce wiped away immediately.

“Now come on, you. The boys are waiting. I’ll ask Will to make you one of his signature hot chocolates and you can all watch the tv together for a bit.”

“I’d like that a lot.” El nodded and they both got up and walked towards the door.

...

It was a little chilly for a July late afternoon, so Joyce wrapped her arms around her a little tighter. It wasn’t a long walk to the police station and the chilly air made her feel more alive than she had been in the few weeks since seeing Hopper... she shook her head and closed her eyes tight. Hopper’s words suddenly whirred around her head.

“When life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave.”

She wasn’t sure if she liked being out of that cave, but she would put one step in front of the other and keep going. For the kids, for Hop.

Before she knew it, she was standing outside of the police station. It had become all too familiar when Will went missing. She stood on the other side of the road looking in. She hadn’t been in there for a long time, yet her feet wouldn’t carry her forward. It felt like all of the numbness from her head and heart had made it’s way down to her feet and legs so they just wouldn’t move. She willed them forward, but nothing. Then a voice rung out next to her.  



	2. Chapter 2

“He’s alive.”

Joyce turned her head slowly, unsure of what she was hearing.

“Joyce, he’s alive.” Murray placed a hand on her arm. Joyce just stared at him. “Jim, Joyce, we need to find him. The Russians...”

Joyce snapped back to reality. “What are you damn well talking about, Murray?”

“I don’t have any evidence yet, but the Russians...”

Joyce snapped. “Don’t talk to me about those Russians.”

“But Joyce, there’s a lot of Russian activity on the air waves. Even the British. I’ve heard them talk about the American. It’s him, Joyce, it’s Jim.”

There was a pause and Joyce wasn’t sure whether to punch this infuriating man in front of her. “Murray. I saw him die. I saw him being vaporised by a bright light from that horrendous machine. I saw it with my own eyes. I saw him -“ Her voice broke and she looked away, wiping her eyes before the tears could fall again. “There is no way that Hop survived that. Nobody could.”

Murray paused, looking her in the eyes, willing her to believe him. “I need you to believe me.”

“Please. I have the kids to think about. They have to come first.”

“Joyce, what if he’s stuck in the upside-down? What if the Russians are keeping him hostage?”

Joyce scoffed.

“What if he’s stuck there? We need to help him. You might be the only one that he can connect with, especially since El doesn’t have her powers any more.”

A wave of protectiveness rushed through Joyce. “Don’t bring El into this. She’s been through too much already.”

Murray held his hands up in defence. “Sorry, sorry. I just can’t get the image of Jim stuck in that,” he waved his hands in the air. “Hellhole, whether that’s the upside-down, at a Russian base. However much he infuriated me, nobody deserves that. The Russians have to be stopped.”

“That’s it, isn’t it.” Joyce said accusingly.

“What’s that?”

“That’s the reason. That’s the reason you want my help in the guise of looking for Hop. You want to bring the Russians down!”

“No -“

“Leave me alone, Murray. Leave me and my kids alone.” She walked off, leaving Murray calling after her.

...

She walked blindly for a while, not knowing in which direction she was heading in. She started to feel more colder and realised that she was sat on a bench with the evening closing in around her. She thought she had better call Jonathan. He’d be worrying right now. He was more like her than she would like, but she knew he could handle it. She got up and found the nearest payphone. The coins clinked down into the machine, the steel numbers cool against her fingers as she punched in the number. Each ring shook her until Jonathan answered.

“Jonathan, it’s me, Mom.”

The relief in his voice was apparent. “Mom, where are you?”

She wasn’t actually sure, so she looked around and realised she was on Main Street. She was about to tell Jonathan where she was when an emotion ripped through her.

Enzos.

“Mom, are you there?”

His voice shook her back to reality. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here. I’m going to have dinner at Enzo’s. Can you pick me up in an hour or so please?”

“Mom, are you OK?”

“Yes, Jonathan, I’m fine. It’s just a bit of... closure.”

She could hear the worry creep back into Jonathan’s voice. “OK, well I’ll be there in exactly an hour.”

“Thanks Jonathan.” She hung up and walked slowly up to the front door of Enzos. She stood there, not knowing how to walk in. She remembered the night when Hopper was in there, waiting for her, yet she never turned up. Now he would never turned up. She sadly smiled to herself. She didn’t believe in karma, but if she did, she would be blindsided right about now. Suddenly a car rushed past her, beeping it’s horn as she realised that she was standing at the edge of the road. It broke her train of thought and she walked to the door, pulled it open and walked inside, the warmth a welcome relief.

As soon as she steps in, she’s greeted by a young girl. “Good evening, M’am. How many?”

Joyce’s eyes landed on the middle table and knew that’s exactly where he would have sat, waiting for her. He knew it would annoy her, being in the middle of the room. He would have teased her all night about it as she sat there, looking embarrassed and wondering who would be walking through the door so she could make sure that she could explain to them tomorrow that this was definitely not a date. What Hopper wouldn’t have realised, is that she would secretly be loving every single minute of it. Trying to not get lost in his eyes otherwise she would have fallen for him then and there. Back then, it was about the kids, helping him out with El. She couldn’t bring herself to admit that it was a date. That is something she has regretted ever since that bright light blinded her and he wasn’t stood there any more. There was no trace of him. Maybe Murray...

“M’am?”

“Oh, sorry. For one please.” The young girl smiles at her, grabs a menu and ushered her to a table. The chair creaked as she sat down. She shut her eyes and breathed deeply. Within the blackness of her mind’s eye, she could see him sitting opposite her, that grin he only seemed to reserve when he saw her. He would be smug, like the cat that got the cream. Her smile soon vanished when she opened her eyes and he wasn’t there, smiling back at her. There she went again, thinking about him if he were still there. She felt someone brush past her and a plate of spaghetti appeared in front of her. She hadn’t realised that she had already ordered.

“Thank you.” She said as the waitress walked away. She looked down at her plate and wondered how she had gotten here, at Enzo’s, looking at her meal not really wanting it, thinking about a man who had been part of her life for as long as she could remember. There was a time where he had left Hawkins, gone into the army, settled in the big city. Not that she knew it at the time, but that was the most loneliness she had ever felt. She remembers seeing him after his return to Hawkins. She was working in the shop, looking a mess and feeling frazzled, worried about the boys and exhausted from the arguments with Lonnie as she would give as much as he gave, when Jim walked in. He looked just as rough as she was feeling. She smiled at him.

“Welcome back, Hop.”

“Good to see you again.” He had replied and in that moment, a tiny bit of weight had lifted from her chest and she could breath for just a second. It had been like that for years, until she watched him die and that tiny bit of weight fell back onto her chest, constricting and strangling her once more, but this time, this time it was different. It wasn’t just a tiny amount of weight, it felt like the whole universe had crushed down on her. She knew exactly why, yet if she thought it to herself, she thought she would never be able to be strong again.

Joyce twizzled the spaghetti around her plate, twirling and untwirling the long strands with her fork. She suddenly heard a siren from outside. Looking up and out of the window, she saw a dim blue flashing light getting brighter and brighter. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the new Sheriff car whizzed past. A pang of hurt ripped through the weight in her chest. They’ve only just had his funeral, she thought, how could the police department have replaced him already? But she knew that life goes on, just like friends who go into the army and move to the big city. Whatever happens in your life, other lives still carried on. She wasn’t sure if she could carry on with normal life after everything that had happened in Hawkins. She should have moved when she had the chance, when Bob had asked her.

Bob.

Super hero Bob.

How she missed him. He always knew what to say, how to comfort her, how to make her feel loved. When he had asked her to move away with him, there wasn’t any reason not to. Hawkins had been her home all her life and since Will had disappeared, it had felt less like her home and more like an alien world to her. Moving away would have been good for all of them, for her, and Bob knew this. Yet there was a niggle in her heart that told her not to go. It had only dawned on her what that niggle was until her and Jim had grown closer and closer since Jim had sat on her bedroom floor whilst she was wrapped in a blanket, sobs ripping through her body with memories of Bob and thoughts of what could have been. A ring clinking against a glass stopped her reminiscent fog and suddenly she realised what she had to do. She was going to take the kids and move to the city. There were too many thoughts and memories swimming around Hawkins. Her and the kids could leave them all here and start afresh, make new memories. That’s it, she had decided. They would move as soon as they could. She just had to convince the kids.

After a few mouthfuls of spaghetti and settling the bill, she made her way out of Enzo’s and towards Jonathan’s car which had just pulled up outside. As she wrapped her cardigan more tightly around her, the chill starting to settle through her bones, she didn’t notice the lights spelling Enzo’s flicker.


	3. Chapter 3

Six months later and she was ushering Will and El down the street.

“If you get up earlier, you could go with your brother.”

“Yeah, but he walks too fast.” Will protested.

“It’s not fair if Will gets an extra fifteen minutes in bed and I don’t.” El yawned.

Joyce rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but we wouldn’t be rushing every morning if you would just go to school with Jonathan!” The two kids grumbled so Joyce quickened her steps. They had moved in to their little apartment a few weeks ago and they were all still trying to get used to their new routine. None of them were used to public transport, but driving was a no go in the city, especially at rush hour. None of them liked getting the buses, rush hour was incredibly crowded and they could never get a seat. If the kids went with Jonathan, at least the buses were slightly less crowded and they could get one of the last seats for one of them to sit down. Since moving to the city, all Will and El wanted to do was sleep. Joyce wasn’t sure if this was to do with the fact that they were reaching that age, goodness knows Jonathan went through that phase, or if it was to do with moving. They had talked about it until they were all dreaming about it. Joyce certainly didn’t want to make the decision alone. All the kids had someone in Hawkins who cared about them. Jonathan had Nancy, Will had his friends and El had Mike and Max. It was Joyce who now had nobody left who cared about her, apart from the kids, of course. It was only fair that they made the decision together, and although they all agreed and thought it was the best, she felt terrible for tearing them all apart.

The bus doors opened in front of them and even though they were the first on board, it was still packed to the brim. Everyone behind her pushed them all on and so began the journey to the school.

——

An hour later, she had dropped the kids off at school and was now standing in front of the eggos in the freezer in the shop down the road from their apartment. People milled around her, bashing into her basket, reaching around her to grab things out of the freezers. This is what she loved about the city. She, and the kids, could be invisible.

Suddenly the light in the freezer dimmed and brightened again and Murray’s voice echoed through her head.

“You might be the only one that he can connect with.”

She picked up a box of Eggos and moved further down. She couldn’t remember what else she had on her shopping list, especially when her head was full of thoughts about Hopper, stuck in that dreadful place. They had survived it before when they had rescued Will. The thought of him wandering around in the stale atmosphere, struggling to breathe, feeling ice cold from his head to his toes. All Joyce wanted to do was hold him, rub his arms and chest to warm him up. She subconsciously shook her head. What was she doing? She saw him die. One minute he was there, the next he had disappeared. She picked up a loaf of bread. There’s no way he could have survived that explosion. The bright white light blinded her again and he was still gone when she opened her eyes, faced with boxes of cereal.

“I need you to believe me.” Murray’s words still echoed round her head, mirroring her own to Hopper when Will went missing. She had believed Will was still alive back then and she had evidence only of her own. Then there she was, shooting Murray down because he thought Hopper was still alive. What sort of hypocrite was she? If anyone could have survived that night, it would be Hopper. A flame sparked deep in her heart and soul and butterflies started to flutter in her stomach. She had to believe in Murray. She had to believe in Hop. She grabbed a notebook on the way to the cashier. If anyone could find him, it was her and Murray.

—

When joyce got back home, she put the groceries away before sitting down at the table, the notepad in front of her, opened to a fresh new page, pen poised to write. Where would she start? The building of Star Court? Trying to get that thing out of her son? When he went missing? She started to write, almost in a trance and when she started to read it back, she realised that she had started right at the beginning — the day she met Hop. She rubbed her eyes and realised that this was going to take longer than she thought. If there were any details in their story gone by that could help her save him, she would find them.

She was so engrossed in what she was writing, that the door made her jump. She automatically shut the book and stuffed it under her backside just as Will and El bustled into the kitchen.

“Where did you get to, Mom?” Will asked accusingly. “We were waiting at the gates for ages. We were worried.”

Joyce made a face and almost got up from her seat to give them both a hug, but realised that her notepad would be uncovered and it would look suspicious. Why didn’t she just leave it on the table?

“I’m so sorry. Time got away from me. I should have been there to collect you guys.”

“It’s OK, Mom. We both got a seat on the bus on the way home.” El gave Will a look.

“Oh, well that’s good. It’s good practice for when I start work in a few days.”

El nodded, but Will stayed quiet as he stuffed some Reece’s pieces into his mouth.

“Will, I know it’s not ideal. If I could take you to and from school, you know I would.” Joyce felt terrible for making them go by themselves. She didn’t like it and wanted to be there to protect them both as much as she could, but the truth was that she had to work to keep a roof over their heads and food in the cupboards.

“I know, Mom. I’ve got homework to do.” Will went to his room. Joyce would have gone after him if El wasn’t still in the room, who was sniffing one of the Reece’s pieces that Will had left behind.

“You know, you can always try one.” El screwed up her nose and put it back with the others that Will had forgotten. She smiled at Joyce.

“I have homework, too.” El started towards the door.

“Let me know if you need any help.”

“Thank you.” With that, she was gone. Joyce almost sighed in relief as she pulled the notebook from underneath her. She got up and hid it in a cupboard where she knew the kids wouldn’t go into and went about cooking everyone dinner.

—

Later that night, everyone had gone into their bedrooms. It had become the norm for all the kids to retire to their bedrooms after they had washed up. She always tried to get them to stay, sometimes suggesting they watch a film or play a board game. The only day they all sat down for the evening was Friday night when Miami Vice was on. Thankfully, it was a Thursday evening and the living room was quiet apart from the scratching of Joyce’s pen in her notebook, her memories swirling all over the blank pages.

She didn’t know how long she had been asleep, but when she woke up, she was still on the couch with a pain in her neck. She sat up, rubbing where the pain radiated into her shoulder and came face-to-face with El, nose deep in her notebook.

“What are you doing?” She asked warily. There were personal memories she had written down, memories not suitable for a young girl of El’s age, let alone a young girl with such a traumatic life as El’s. El startled.

“I saw Dad’s name and...”

“That doesn’t mean you can go reading other peoples notebooks.” Joyce kept the anger out of her voice, even though it was rising quickly.

El being El cut straight to the point. “You told me that you saw him die.”

There was a pause as a shock took hold of Joyce momentarily “Oh, I, yes, he did.”

El flicked through a few pages towards the end of the notebook. “But here you say that you were blinded by a light. So did you see him die or not?” El’s voice was getting louder. Joyce and El were yet to argue, but she remembered speaking to Hopper about their arguments and she knew that El could become explosive, so she kept from raising her own voice.

“He was there one minute, then gone the next. There was no sign of life anywhere. Everyone had disappeared. They were gone.”

“But that’s different to actually seeing them die. Why didn’t you tell me?” El had stood up, towering over Joyce.

“El, please calm down. It didn’t come up in conversation. We were mourning him.”

“You should have told me! This changes everything!” El was almost shouting now, tears starting to stream down her face.

Joyce stood up and put her hand on El’s arm to try and reassure her. “El-“ El pulled her arm away and stormed into her room, slamming her door shut. Joyce went to follow her, but decided against it. She needed time to process this new information, much like she had had to when she had seen Murray.

After 10 minutes, Joyce couldn’t stand it any longer and knocked softly on El’s bedroom door. Silence.

“El, please.” Joyce pleaded. “Can we talk?”

Silence still. Joyce opened the door and peeked in to see El sat cross-legged on the floor with the tv on static, a blindfold over her eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Leave me alone.”

“El, that’s not going to work. Your powers -“

“I have to try, Mom.” The desperation in her voice broke Joyce’s heart.

“I know you do, sweetheart.”

El took the blindfold off and turned to Joyce. “I have to get my powers back. I’m the only one who can find him if he’s out there.”

“You can’t be the only one. There has to be another way. We just need to find it.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

There was a helpless pause between them before El hugged Joyce.

“We’ll find him. I can’t be the only one.”

They both sat on the bed in silence, thinking about what they were going to do next. El suddenly spoke.

“Wait. I’m not the only one. What about my bothers and sisters? Do you remember me telling you about Callie? Number eight? She had powers like me. All we need to do is find her.”

Joyce couldn’t deny the butterflies in her stomach fluttering away. “Do you know where Callie is now?”

“I don’t. I know where we used to hang out. We could always start there?”

Joyce smiled. “I know someone who will be able to help us.”


	4. Chapter 4

Joyce waved up at the camera and waited for a few minutes. They heard a commotion inside, a few bangs and swear words before being confronted by the usual scruff of Murray, a shotgun pointed at them. Joyce frowned at him and pushed El behind her. She scolded him.

“Murray, don’t you dare ever point that thing at my daughter.” The word had just slipped out of her mouth before anyone had realised. Murray looked at her dumbfounded, but all Joyce did was push the shotgun aside and walk past him, El following closely behind, holding Joyce’s hand.

“Yeah sure, just come on in. It’s not like I have security protocols and what not.”

“You knew it was me, Murray.”

“Yeah but not this one.” He waved the shotgun up and down at El.

Joyce grabbed it from him. “I told you, not at El!”

“Jesus, Joyce! That thing’s loaded!” Murray almost dived for cover and Joyce wave it in front of him before setting it sown clumsily on the table. Murray quickly grabbed it and positioned it in a more appropriate and safer area. “What are you doing here? I’m assuming this is Hop’s daughter.”

“Yes, I’m El. We thought you might be able to help us.”

Murray scoffed. “Oh! So now you’re crawling to me for help, Joyce! What with? Have your magnets fallen off the fridge again? Found Jim in your basement?”

Joyce paused and looked at the man in front of them. The bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and too much coffee. His black tangled hair and stains on his shirt. She wasn’t sure if she pitied him, or envied him. The fact that he obviously didn’t have a life outside of his conspiracies. He had no idea what the real world was like and part of her wanted to know what it was like to not have others relying on you for their every day survival, to help them grow into their life, to have to battle your thoughts and tiredness of every minute, of every day. But when she looked into his eyes, she saw that he also had those battles and weights on his shoulders, and she realised that she was going to have to apologise first.

“I’m sorry, Murray.” Murray scoffed at her and rolled his eyes, about to say something but she cut him off. “I should have listened to you. You were right, we might be the only ones that can save Hopper if he’s out there. We have to try.”

“I have no evidence for you, Joyce.”

“Then we’ll get evidence.”

Murray looked at her confused. “What changed? Last time I saw you, you bit my head off and walked away.”

Joyce didn’t know how to answer his question, so El did for her. “We have to try. If there’s a chance he’s out there, we have to find him.”

Murray stared at her for a while, then back at Joyce. “Jim really knew how to pick his girls, eh.” He smirked. “He’s lucky to have you two.” He paused and inhaled dramatically, waving his arms outward and then inward. “OK. Where do we start?” He gestured for Joyce and El to sit down before pouring himself a vodka. “I’ve not heard much over the airwaves, but-“

“We know where to start.” Joyce interjected.

“Oh, ok, well, go ahead.” Murray said, sitting back, not impressed with the interruption.

Joyce looked over at El, urging her to tell Murray about Callie.

El looked at Murray nervously. “When I had powers, I met someone else like me.”

“What, like a clone?”

“Clone?”

“No,” Joyce interrupted, “Someone else with powers.”

“She’s number eight.”

Murray couldn’t hide the shock from his face and voice. “Wait, what? You mean that there are at least eleven people with powers?”

El and Joyce nodded simultaneously.

“I knew it!” Murray stood up, starting to pace. “I knew there were others. And you’ve met one of them?”

“Less of the shock, Murray.” Joyce didn’t want El to feel that she was being victimised.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just I spent a long time of my life trying to find you and your brothers and sisters, to the point where I wasn’t even sure if they were real.”

“Her name’s Callie.” El piped in. “She should still have her powers and I think I know where to find her.”

Murray and Joyce looked at each other before he cracked out in a big smile. “Well then, what are we waiting for?”

….

The drive there was uneventful filled with awkward silences. When they pulled up to the grubby building, Murray sucked in his breath. “Maybe you two should stay here?”

Joyce gave him a look of disgust. “Are you kidding me? No. We’re coming with you. You need someone to rein you in a bit.”

Murray went to say something but Joyce and El both got out of the car simultaneously.

“Ugh, I’d forgotten how annoying you are, Joyce.” He said under his breath as he also opened the car door and followed the girls into the building. He almost walked into them as they stared around.

“What happened here?” El asked, moving forward, making her way around rubble. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed in on itself, wet with the recent rain shower. Rats scuttled away from her and into all the nooks that the bricks created.

“Was it like this when you were here?” Joyce asked, her heart breaking at the thought El had spent time in a place like this.

“No, it was much more inviting and welcoming. Our home away from the streets. She can’t be here any more.”

“Wait a second.” Murray moved past them. “There’s a glow coming from ahead.”

They all moved forward slowly, the glow sometimes flickering. 

“It looks like a flame from a candle or something.”

“Shhh.”

They peered in between a couple of pieces of ceiling to find somebody asleep in a sleeping bag, snoring softly, next to them, a candle flickering.

“Who’s that?” Joyce whispered.

“I don’t know, Joyce. I’m seeing what you’re seeing!” Joyce rolled her eyes as El moved forward. “Do you recognise him?”

“No, I don’t.”

“El, what are you doing?” Before she could be stopped, El was gently waking the person up.

“Hello? Are you OK?”

Suddenly the man woke with a start and a splutter, pushing El over, standing up, brandishing a knife.

“Get away from me!” He yelled.

“It’s OK, it’s OK.” Joyce hushed. He was quite a young man and had signs of living on the streets for too long.

“Get out of here!” He yelled again, pointing the knife at Joyce and stepping forward. Murray positioned himself in between them.

“Come on, we’re not here to hurt you. We’re looking for someone.”

“It’s just me here and I’m invisible, so get out! You shouldn’t be in here!”

The man carried on yelling at them, profanities emitting from his mouth, like foam from a rabid dog and the knife his only protection. El stepped out from behind Murray and moved towards him, her hands outstretched to him.

“Callie. We’re looking for Callie. Do you know where she is?”

The man immediately stopped at the name. “Callie? She’s long gone.” 

“Where did she go?”

“Who’s asking?”

“I’m El, her sister.”

The man’s eyes went wide and then narrowed at El. “She told me about you. She did this in a fit of rage when you disappeared!”

El didn’t know what to do so backed out of the situation and went wondering around all the rubble, leaving Joyce and Murray talking to the man. She remembered where everything was. Where she slept, where they made her over, where she sat with Callie, talking the night away. She wandered into where Callie’s bedroom used to be, now a pile of bricks, belongings strewn through the gaps. A piece of paper caught her eye and she carefully pulled it free. After reading it, she went back to Joyce and Murray, who were still trying to find out from the man where Callie was.

“We’ve got to go.”

Murray turned to her. “But we’re so close to this guy spilling his guts.”

“It doesn’t matter. We need to go.”

“But we just-“

“Now.”

Joyce could see how serious El was. “Murray, let’s go.”

Murray paused before nodding, letting El and Joyce leave first.

“No thank you, then?” The man scoffed, making Murray pause and turn back around, making his way closer to him. The man didn’t move as Murray stared into his eyes, before punching him square in the face.

“You’re welcome.” He said, before following after the girls, who had already gotten into the car.

“So what was that about?” He asked as he, too, got into the car and putting the key into the ignition. El thrust the piece of paper into his lap. “What’s this?”

Joyce snatched it from his lap, tired of all his questions. “Well read it and you’ll find out!” She said, before reading the piece of paper. “It’s a list of names, the first few scribbled out. Who are they?”

El looked spooked as she almost huddled inside herself, getting lost in the back of the car. “They’re the names…”

“The names of who, sweetheart?”

“The names of the people who were there. During the time we were in the lab. She was hunting them.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Hunting them?” Joyce asked, shaking her head slightly and glancing at Murray.

“Yes, she wanted to get revenge on those who made her like she is.”

There was a pause as everything sunk in.

“Well, you can’t blame her,” said Murray, “and those names crossed off-“

El nodded. “She’s got to them already.”

“OK, so all we need to do is find the next one on the list and go down from there and we should find her.”

“This is going to be a long night.” Murray sighed, starting the car engine.

…

After a couple of hours and finally finding out the address of the next person who was not scribbled out, they pulled up outside.

“So, have we actually thought about what we’re going to say? That we’re looking for a maniac looking to kill you because you assisted in the experimentation of little girls.”

“Murray, don’t be a dick. Just follow my lead. I’ve done this enough times. El, I want you to stay in the car.”

“But-“ El protested.

“No buts, El. I need you to be safe.”

Joyce and Murray got out of the car and awkwardly made their way down the drive to the house.

“You sure this Callie will be able to help us?” Murray questioned Joyce.

“She’s the only lead we’ve got, what else do you suggest we do?”

They reached the door and paused before knocking. They heard a shuffle from inside, the latch on the door unlocking before it opened a few inches.

“I’m not interested.” Said a woman’s voice through the gap, her pale face shining though,

“Oh, hello. We’re looking for John Tally.”

There was a pause. “Who wants to know?”

“We’re old friends of his. This was the last address he gave us.”

“He never mentioned old friends. How do you know him.”

“I, um…” Joyce stuttered before Murray chimed in.

“From the lab.”

“Oh. Well he’s not here. He passed away after a car crash a few months ago.” Tears started to well up in her eyes.

“Oh I’m so sorry. John was such a lovely man.” Joyce said, hoping that he was.

“I’m sorry.” The woman whispered before shutting the door and locking it again.

Joyce and Murray got back to the car to tell El to cross John off the list.

…

They visited three more homes after that, each person on the list having passed away by grisly and unexplained means. Car crashes where the brakes had failed, falls from high places, with one even being hit by a train.

“So, we know that Callie is behind all of these deaths, right?” Murray questioned.

“Yes,” El said, “This is the sort of thing she would want to do.”

“Who’s next?” Joyce asked, with El passing the note to her so she could read the next one. It was the last one on the list. “Ronald Chambers.” El had written the address underneath. They had been driving around all night, having to miss one or two as they lived out of the state. “Let’s hope we find Callie here.”

They drove for a while, time getting later and later, yawns filling the car. An hour later, with El and Joyce both asleep in the back, Murray pulled up to the house. The door was open. He awoke the sleeping pair.

“I think we’ve found her.”

“I have to come with you.” El said, following Joyce and Murray out of the car. Joyce stopped.

“It could be dangerous. She could be dangerous. You saw what she did to that place back there because you left.”

“She won’t hurt me. I promise.”

Joyce nodded, following Murray up to the door as he creaked it open. There was not a sound coming from anywhere. Murray turned the corner and stopped suddenly. A young girl was sat on the sofa, her back to Murray, the body of a man seemingly at her feet. Chaos was all around them, the signs of a big struggle evident. Murray moved forward and shrugged Joyce off who had put her arm on his to stop him. He moved around the sofa, not looking at the body at Callie’s feet. He could still see the gleaming red of the person’s blood from the corner of his eye.

“Callie?”

Nothing.

“Callie, are you OK?” He tried again. She slowly looked at him, blood streaking her face and he couldn’t tell if it was hers or the person’s at her feet. He stood in front of her. “I’m Murray.”

Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed on top of her and Murray stumbled back and cried out. He fell to the floor, shielding his eyes. El rushed forwards.

“It just a hallucination, Murray!” She shouted at him as she bent down and clasped Callie’s hands in hers. “Callie. It’s me, El. It’s your sister.” Callie turned to her and cocked her head slightly.

“El?”

“Yes, it’s me. It’s me.”

There was a pause before Callie responded. “Bitchin’,” She flung her arms up as she stood up, flinging El almost across the room. “You left!” She screamed. “You left me to deal with all the shit!” She rushed forward, about the grab El when she was hit over the head with a vase and knocked unconscious.

“Bitchin’ indeed.” Joyce muttered as she dropped the vase, before helping El up and checking her over to make sure she was OK. “Murray, bring Callie out the back. I’ll come round with the car.”

She pulled El with her out of the door as Murray shouted out, “I’m fine, by the way!”


	6. Chapter 6

Joyce and Murray took turns in watching over Callie during the night. It was very late when they finally arrived back to Murray’s. Dawn was starting to break as Callie started to stir, so Murray went to wake Joyce and El. They all sat around her as her eye lids started to flutter open.

“Where am I?” She croaked, looking blearily around at them all. Joyce sat up and stroked her hair like she was another daughter. She wanted to keep her as calm as possible. El had told them how dangerous Callie was. Her temper could strike at any time and she could make you hallucinate anything. Murray was absolutely fascinated, however Joyce was terrified and knew that her personality along with her powers were not a good combination.

“It’s OK, sweetie.” Joyce almost cooed, like she would to a baby. “You’re safe, I promise.”

“Who are you?” Callie asked, blinking up at Joyce. “Where am I?”

“You’re in a safe place where nobody can hurt you. I’m El’s adoptive Mom. Do you remember El? Eleven?” Callie tried to sit up. “No, no, stay down. You took quite the knock to the head last night.”

“She left me.”

Joyce continued to stroke her hair, willing her to stay calm. “Who left you?”

“El.”

There was a pause. 

“I’m sorry Callie.” El stood up and walked over to them. Callie stared up at her. “I had to leave. My family needed me.”

“I needed you.” Callie sat up, wincing and putting her hand on the back of her head.

El looked away, unable to look at her sister. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“Well I did just fine without you. So if you excuse me, I’m going home.” Callie stood up but almost collapsed into Joyce.

“You can’t. You need to rest.”

“We also need your help.” Murray deadpanned, bringing in a glass of water. Joyce gave him the death stare. “What Joyce? We do.”

“So you’re keeping me prisoner because you need my help. No, that’s not happening.”

“Please. We need to find my Dad.”

“Why can’t you do it?” Callie snapped.

There was a pause. “Because I don’t have my powers any more.”

“What?”

“I lost my powers a while ago. When my Dad went missing.” El stopped, tears springing to her eyes.

“He’s means a lot to you, doesn’t he, your Dad?”

All El could do was nod.

“I don’t know what it’s like to have a proper family.”

“You’ll always have a family here, Callie.” Joyce knew from experience how it was to grow up without a father, not just her own experience, but also from Lonnie being absence from the boys’ lives. She couldn’t, however, know what it must be like to grow up without a father and a mother. All her motherly instincts wanted to take care of Callie, just like she was doing with El.

Callie turned to her. “But you don’t even know me.”

“Any family of El’s, is family to us.”

A thick pause filled the air before Murray interjected. “OK, alright, enough of the family bullshit. We get it, you’re all family. Now Callie, are you going to help us, or are we going to have to go back to the drawing board to get Jim back?”

“I’ll help you as best I can, but I don’t know how.”

“El used to be able to find people with her mind. I dunno how. How did you describe to, El?”

Joyce rolled her eyes at Murray. “Will you shut up.”

“Through the void.” El walked over to Callie’s bedside.

Callie shook her head. “I’ve never heard of the void. Describe it to me.”

El sat down on the edge of the bed and shut her eyes. “It’s a cold and dark place. There’s no life, but everything in you tingles like electricity. It feels like it’s draining the life out of your soul and body. It’s there that I was able to find and connect with people I wanted to find.”

“It sounds like how I make people see things. I close my eyes and step into the blackness of my mind. It feels exactly how you describe and it’s that electricity feeling I use to connect to people’s minds to show them what I want them to see.”

“So you can connect to this void thing?” Joyce can’t keep the excitement from her voice.

“I think so, if El can show me how.

“No,” Joyce began, “You need rest first. I hit you pretty hard over the head last night. You need to rest fully.”

….

Later that evening, Callie emerged from the bedroom to find Murray asleep on the sofa, El asleep as she rested against Joyce. Joyce’s eyes opened as she heard Callie came in.

“I’m ready.”

Joyce nods and wakes the other two. El gets up and starts looking for what she needed to help Callie into the void. Callie sat down next to Joyce.

“Are you sure?” Joyce questioned. She was eager for Callie to find Hopper, but she also didn’t want to push the young girl.

Callie nodded. “Yes. If I can give El a chance at having a proper family, I want to do whatever it takes. I’ve been to the void before, I just need to channel it differently.”

El stood opposite Callie and bent down. She took her hand and led her to the TV before she turned it on, knocking the aerial out of sync, bringing on the static.

Murray protested. “Hey! I just got that tuned nicely.”

El rolled her eyes at him before turning back to Callie. She pulled out a handkerchief. “You’ll need to wrap this around your eyes so everything is black. Listen to the static carefully and let your mind’s eye wander into the void. Once you’re there and can feel the electricity, let me know and I’ll give you something of my Dad’s. This will help you to channel the electricity to connect with my Dad and find him. This is what he looks like.”

El hands Callie a photo of Hopper and Callie memorises his features before nodding at El. “OK. Let’s do this.” She shuts her eyes and ties the handkerchief around her head to cover her eyes. She shifted closer to the TV and tuned into the static, letting her mind wander into the void. She had done it countless times before, but somehow this felt different. It felt stronger and it scared her. The static seemed to get louder and louder as she felt like she was falling asleep as electricity crackled around her. Suddenly there was nothing but silence and black, which echoed all around her. She heard El’s voice swimming around her.

“Are you there?”

“Yes.” Callie whispered as cold swept through her.

“I’m handing you my Dad’s shirt.”

Callie felt something being placed in her hands. She looked down and saw a sheriff’s shirt. Usually, she would make a snappy remark, but the cold started to grow through her and she thought she might shatter. Suddenly she hears a car behind her. She whirls around and is about to jump out of the way before the car swerves. As it does so, the door opens and something is thrown out before it screams off and into the distance. Whatever was thrown out lays as still as a stone. Callie approaches, dropping the sheriff shirt as she goes. As she gets closer, she realises that it was a man that was thrown out of the car. She heaves him over and realises that the man is Hopper.

“Hopper? Jim? Are you OK?”

Nothing.

“Jim, I’m Callie. I’m here to help.”

Still nothing. Callie tries to rouse the man in front of her, blood trickling slowly down his face from a head wound.

“Please, wake up.”

Callie looks around for any sign of where they might be, but there’s nothing. It’s just her and Hopper, alone, in the blackness and the void.

“Jim, I’m a friend of El’s.”

Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, horror plaguing them. He grabs Callie by her shoulders and she almost stumbles into him.

“Help me.” Hopper hoarsely whispers. Callie felt a great weight on her shoulders as Hopper melted into the floor, taking her with him. Suddenly she’s in a hospital room, Hopper laying in the hospital bed opposite her. He’s wired up to beeping machines. She walks towards the foot of the bed where she sees a clipboard with some paper attached, hanging from one of the bars. She takes it, but she can’t decipher what any of it says, apart from a logo in the top right had corner. It’s a thick blue plus sign with a white heart in the middle that etches itself into her memories. She couldn’t work out the name. She sees Hopper’s hand twitch and she puts the clipboard back onto the bar of the bed and makes her way around to the side. Hopper’s eyes flutter open and he groans. “Joyce.”

“No, no, it’s Callie. We’re coming for you.”

Hopper doesn’t seem to notice her. She touches his arm and suddenly his eyes are on her.  
“Who are you?” He asks before screaming at the top of his lungs. Then everything is melting away again and suddenly she’s back on Murray’s floor in front of the TV. She feels disorientated, yet chaos rains all around her. She screams El’s name as she sees glimpses of people in combat gear, wielding guns, running around her. Suddenly she feels someone grab her arm and pulls her.

“Time to go.” She hears Murray as her legs are working hard to keep up with him. She finds herself feeling that ice cold again like she was back in the void, and for a moment, she thinks she is, until she realises that they’re running along a tunnel, Joyce and El just ahead of them. “Callie! Callie! Are you OK?” She hears Murray shouting at her. “Speak to me!”

“I’m OK.” She manages to blurt out as her mind comes fully aware. They leave the tunnel and Murray unveils a car from beneath a big tarpaulin, hidden in between trees and bushes.

“Get in!” He yells at everyone, making sure that they all clamber in. He starts the engine. Where he got the key, nobody really knew, but they were all glad to get away from what ever it was that had just happened.

“Who the hell were they?” The shake in Joyce’s voice was unmistakable.

“I don’t know, Joyce, but they just stormed my god damn house!” Murray hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand, before covering his eyes and wiping down to his mouth. “They ruined my house.” The devastation in his voice was heartbreaking.

“But how?” Joyce questioned. “Your place is like a fort.”

“I don’t know, Joyce. But they looked like they were FBI, CIA, something.” He shook his head. “I knew I should have invested in that new security system. Damn it!” He banged the steering wheel again.

“Calm down! You’re scaring the kids!”

“They trashed my place, Joyce!” Murray looked at her, the hurt in his eyes. Joyce’s face softened, trying to calm him.

“I know, Murray. I know.”

There was a pause, a silence filling the car as Murray drove, making sure nobody had followed them. His back up car seemed to have worked and they were alone on the road. Callie’s voice cut through the air.

“I know where he is.”

All eyes locked onto hers.

“You saw him?” El asked. Callie nodded.

“Yes, he was thrown out of a car. He was beaten up pretty badly.”

“Oh, Hop.” Joyce whispered.”

Callie continued. “He’s now in a hospital. I couldn’t work out the name, but the logo is a blue cross with a white heart in the middle.”

“Fairbanks General.” Murray said. “That’s not too far from here. How did he end up there?”

Joyce gulped and stayed silent. Her heart leapt at the thought of seeing Hopper again. Could it possibly be him? She just had to wait and see.


	7. Chapter 7

“I think El and Callie should go back to mine.” Joyce said, recognising where they were on the road.

“What? No!” El protested. “I want to see my Dad.”

Joyce turned to face her. “I know you do, sweetheart, but we don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into –“

“I can fight for myself.”

“So can I.” Callie replied.

Joyce sighed. “I know you both can. I know that you are both stronger than all of us put together. But I need to keep you safe. I promised your Dad that I would keep you safe.” Joyce struggled to hold back the tears that started to form in her eyes, glistening every time they drove past a light. She hadn’t actually had the conversation with Hopper, just in her head. She knew he would want her to take care of El and keep her safe, so she promised him, in her head, that she would do that. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. “El, you know he would want that too.” She looked back up, seeing her tears mirrored in El’s eyes. El nodded and turned to face the window.

“Where do I go?” Murray asked before Joyce told him to take the next junction off the interstate.

….

It wasn’t too long before they reached the Byer’s apartment. The lights were still on and she wondered how she was going to explain everything to the boys. They had been through this too many times, but she knew that they would understand.

They were greeted by two tired looking and worried boys when they went through the front door.

“Mom!” Jonathan and Will both exclaimed together, almost knocking Joyce to the ground as they both hugged her at the same time. She stroked their hair and hugged them as tightly as possible. She hadn’t been gone too long, but she knew that they would have been worried. They got that from her.

“Everything’s fine.” She almost cooed at them. “You remember, Murray, don’t you?” The boys nodded. “I want you to meet Callie, too.”

“El’s sister.” Will nodded as he stood back from and awkwardly waving at Callie. “Hi. El has told me all about you.”

Callie smiled at him.

“These are my boys, Callie. Jonathan and Will. They’re El’s brothers.”

Callie nodded as an awkward pause passed over them, all looking at each other in the small hallway.

“Boys,” Joyce took hold of the situation. “I need you to look after El and Callie.”

“Why? Where are you going?” Jonathan asked, concerned, his usual frown appearing across his forehead. He always knew when something was slightly amiss.

“We found him.”

“Who?” Will piped up.

“My Dad.” El said. Joyce couldn’t read her emotions.

“He’s in Fairbanks General Hospital. Murray and I are going to see him and make sure it’s safe for El.”

“Safe?”

“My house was stormed by-“ Murray waved his arms in the air. “Whoever, I dunno, people with big guns. So yeah, it’s safer here.”

“What? Who attacked you?” Jonathan stepped forward.

“Does it matter?” Murray exclaimed. “They destroyed my god damn house!”

Joyce rubbed Jonathan’s arm. “We’re fine, but I don’t want to take El and Callie to the hospital, not until we know it’s safe.”

“I’m coming with you.” Jonathan moved to get his coat.

“No, Jonathan. I need you here with your brother and sisters.”

After a pause, Jonathan nodded and after settling the kids down, Joyce and Murray made their way back to the car to continue their journey.

…

As they pulled up to Fairbanks General Hospital and parked up, Joyce couldn’t stop the butterflies in her stomach, the thoughts whirling around her head and the emotions coursing through her like electricity. Was it even him? Did Callie get it wrong? Was he here? Was he hurt? She paused by the entrance of the hospital.

“Are you OK?” Murray asked.

Joyce nodded. “I think so. Let’s see if it’s him.”

They made their way up to the reception desk.

“Hi. Uhm, we’re here to see Hop- sorry, Jim Hopper.”

The receptionist didn’t look up.

“Uhm, Jim Hopper? Is he here?”

“What relation are you to him?” The receptionist didn’t look up from her computer.

“Uhm-“

“She’s his wife and I’m his brother.”

Joyce turned to Murray, her mouth open in horror. Murray looked at Joyce with a twinkle in his eyes and she thought she saw him wink at her.

The receptionist tapped away at her computer. “Level 3, Ward 2, Room 5.” Joyce felt a rush of relief wash over her and she had to hold onto the counter to steady herself. The receptionist continued to tap away at her keyboard as the pair walked away.

As soon as they were in the lift, Joyce turned on Murray. “What the hell was that?”

“What was what?” Murray smiled and she wanted to smack him one.

“You’re not his brother! I’m not his wife!”

“Oh come on, Joyce. The way you both bicker, you practically are married.” Joyce didn’t know what to say and stared through Murray. “Anyway, I’m more interested in knowing how they know it is actually Jim.” The lift chimed and the doors opened. “Looks like we’re here.” Murray walked out, leaving Joyce to seethe after him. She suddenly remembered why they were there and she followed down to the corridor to Ward 3. The nurse let them in.

“Hi, we’re here to see Jim Hopper? I’m his wife and this is his brother.” She could tell Murray was laughing inside.

“Ah yes, our own John Smith.” The nurse said, prompting confusion from Joyce and Murray.

“What do you mean?” Joyce asked.

“We didn’t know who he was when he first came in.” Joyce and Murray started to follow the nurse towards the room. “He was found in the middle of nowhere, unconscious. We don’t know how he got there. He had some strange injuries, but I’ll let the doctor explain that to you. Anyway, we had no idea who he was, apart from a band on his ankle with the name Jim Hopper. How did you know he was here?” The nurse stopped and looked through the window, Joyce saw Hopper, hooked up to machines, still unconscious. She didn’t ask if she could go in, she just opened the door and let Murray deal with the doctors and nurses and questions. The beeping of the machines overwhelmed her as she slowly made her way to the bed. She shut her eyes and opened them again to make sure it really was him, to make sure that he was actually alive.

“Hop.” She whispered as she peered down at him. She gently caressed the side of his face, noting all of the injuries she could see. A black eye, a gash on his forehead that had been stitched, a cut on his lip. Emotion swept through her.

“What happened to you?” She needed him to wake up, to tell her he was alright, that everything was going to be alright. Tears sprang to her eyes as she thought about what he must have been through, to end up in this state in a hospital bed. Memories started to flood her mind as she continued to caress the side of his face and run her fingers through his hair. The last time she was doing this was when Hopper had been beaten up and she watched over him until he had woken up. She took his hand in hers and squeezed, continuing to run her other hand through his hair. “Please wake up.” She leaned down and gently kissed him, lingering for as long as she would allow herself to. She pulled away. “Come back to me, Hop.” His eyelids started to flicker.

“Hop? Oh my god, Hop. Can you hear me?” Both her hands found themselves against him, willing him to wake up and see her. “I’m here.” His eyes slowly opened, at first looking around, then landing on her. “Hop!” Emotion completely overtook her and before she knew it, she was kissing him as hard as she could, tears streaming down her face. She pulled back and couldn’t tell what emotions were formed on his features. Then her world came crumbling down.

“Who are you?” He asked.


	8. Chapter 8

She didn’t know what else to do, so she just ran. She ran out of the room and past Murray and the nurse.

“Joyce?”

She ignored Murray as she made her way anywhere, somewhere but there, with the person she loves not knowing who she is. She paused, suddenly realising that she loved him. The devastation swept through her again. He didn’t remember her. After all that, he didn’t remember her. She found herself outside, looking upwards, not being able to stop the tears. She had mourned for him, thought about him every single day, never getting over her guilt of turning those keys, knowing it was her that had killed him, yet this felt worse. He was alive and had no idea who she was. They had become close over the last few years and she had known that he harboured feelings for her. She wasn’t sure how long she had harboured hers. Perhaps before Bob, perhaps before Lonnie, perhaps since high school. If only she had realised them sooner. Before sharing their cigarettes under the bleachers, before their car journeys after school, before she left him to marry Lonnie, before the boys had come along, before his life fell apart, before her life fell apart, before Will went missing, before Bob, before Star Court, before she watched him die, before now. She remembered back to the conversation they had, sitting on some steps in the Russian base, waiting for Murray to get his shit together, dressed up as the enemy, they had been bickering like, what Murray had said, an old married couple. She had finally let one of her barriers down and let herself feel, let the butterflies overtake her for a moment. With the date at Enzo’s, she had finally let him see how she felt about him. Then she had lost him and it felt like she had lost him all over again. She wasn’t going to let that happen. Not again. The tears started to dry up. She wasn’t going to loose him for the umpteenth time. She was going to make him remember, no matter what it took.

…

Joyce walked back into the hospital with determination. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she knew that she was going to make him remember.

Murray is in the room when she gets there, almost asleep in the chair.

“Mmmmm. You OK?” He says, opening his eyes slightly.

Joyce nods. “I will be.”

“The nurse said his memories should return.”

“I won’t give up on him.”

“Neither will I. Right now though, I’m pretty beat.” With that, he closed his eyes again and started snoring lightly.

Joyce took her coat off and sat down on the armchair in the corner next to the bed. She knew Murray had left it for her, so he sat on the other side of the room. She could just reach Hopper’s hand, so gave it a squeeze before she settled down in the chair, her coat over her and up to her chin. After one last look at him, she shut her eyes and started to drift off.

Suddenly she awoke with a start to her name.

“Joyce.”

She looked over at Murray, who was still fast asleep in the chair.

“Joyce.” She realised that Hopper was softy calling her name in his sleep. Her heart skipped a beat. Somewhere, deep down, he did remember her. She decides that she needs to take Hopper back to Hawkins to try and trigger his memories again. Being around familiar surroundings with her might just be what he needs to remember. She decides to let Murray sleep for a few hours before waking him again. She looks over at his scruffy hair, his stained top, and smiles. He’s done a lot for her and she was wrong to shut him out after Hopper, but that’s what she does. She shuts people out. She tells herself that she’s not going to do that again. She slowly starts to drift back to sleep, Hopper’s name playing along her lips.

…

Joyce wakes up feeling like someone is watching her. When she opens her eyes, she sees Hopper is watching her, trying to figure her out, who she is.

“Hey.” She says softly. “How you feeling?”

Hopper rubs his forehead. “Alright, all things considered. I mean, I have no idea who I am or where I’m from. The nurse said I’ll be discharged tomorrow, but where do I go? Start a life all over again. How am I supposed to do that?”

“I can take you to where you’re from.” Joyce tried to not sound so eager.

Hopper looked at her with an air of suspicion, remembering that this woman sat opposite him had kissed him with what he thought felt like love. “Who are you to me?”

Joyce smiled slightly and tilted her head. “We were, uh, sort of, together?”

“Well I obviously have good taste.” He smiled at her, almost getting lost in her eyes. He turned away, his eyes landing on Murray, still asleep in the chair opposite. “And who’s this fella?”

“That’s Murray. He’s a friend of ours.”

Hopper nodded. “How can I trust you?? The nurse said you’re my wife and he’s my brother.” He looked back at her, that suspicion back across his features. Joyce winced and looked down.

“Well, you see, I, we, uh.” She paused and looked back up, her shoulders shrinking. “Boy, I wish Murray would wake up.” She whispered to herself as she rubbed the back of her neck.

“How can I trust you?”

“You just need to.” She pleaded. “I need to take you to where you’re from. A place called Hawkins. A lot of stuff happened to you there, happened to us. If we take you back, it might trigger memories for you.”

“I dunno. Maybe I should start that new life again somewhere else. If so much stuff happened to us in Hawkins. Maybe I can fall in love with you all over again.”

Joyce’s heart skipped a beat, she wasn’t sure whether that was to do with him falling in love with her, or because he was talking about starting a new life elsewhere. She wondered if this is what he felt like when he had found out that she was going to move away from Hawkins.

“You need to trust me, Hop. I need you to believe me.”

Something seemed to flash across his eyes. “I’ve helped you before.”

Joyce nodded and sat forward. “Yes, yes, more than once. So please, let me help you now.”

Hopper looked at her and nodded. “OK, OK. I need to remember. I need to remember you.”

Joyce sighed in relief. “Good, good. We’ll go in the morning. Get some more sleep, we’ve got a long day in front of us.”

Hopper nodded and settled back down, Joyce watching over him. She wondered how they were going to get him out of the hospital. The hospital wouldn’t let him go without precautions in place. They would have to get him out as early and as quickly as possible. She would have to wake Murray soon so they could make a plan before day broke, but for now, she let them both sleep.

…

A couple of hours later, she got up from her chair, stretching in pain. She was too old to sleep in chairs like she used to. She moved over to Murray and tried to wake him.

“Murray. Murray? Wake up.” She whispered.

Nothing.

“Murray!” Her whisper gets harsher.

Nothing.

“Murray!” She says, shaking his shoulders.

“Ah! What! Not today!”

“Murray, wake up!”

“Ugh, Joyce! What are you doing?”

“We need to get out of here, sooner rather than later.”

“What’s wrong?” Confusion spread across Murray’s face.

“We need to get Hop out of here. We need to take him to Hawkins to trigger his memories.”

Murray put his hands up. “OK, OK. Does Jim actually know this?”

“Yes, I thought I’d let him sleep – “

“What about my sleep?” Murray moaned, shutting his eyes again.

“We need to get him out without the hospital knowing. They’ll send him off somewhere, but he needs to be with us, in Hawkins.”

“OK. Yes, you’re right.”

Joyce started to look in the handful of drawers dotted around the room.

“What are you doing, Joyce?”

“Trying to find his clothes.”

Murray paused. “Oh, right, um. Well you can get him dressed. I’ll see if I can find, I dunno. A wheelchair or something.” He got out of the chair and started to move towards the door.

“A wheelchair? What do you want one of those for?”

Murray turned back to her. “I don’t know, Joyce. It will look less suspicious if we’re wheeling someone around the hospital.”

Joyce thought for a moment. “Yeah, OK. Go and find one.”

“Have fun. Enjoy seeing him butt naked.” Murray raised his eyebrows at her as she shook her head.

“Just go and find a wheelchair.” She shooed him out of the room. Once he had left, she smiled. Little did he know that she had actually already seen Hopper naked. However hard she tried not to look, she couldn’t not as she had removed his bloodied clothes that day.

She looked in the cupboard next to Hopper’s bed.

“Gotcha.”

They were clothes that she wasn’t familiar with. Just a t-shirt and jeans. Even though they were freshly laundered, they looked grubby and bloodied as though his nose had been broken and it had bled onto his t-shirt. She put them on the chair where she had rested, turned to Hopper and squeezed his hand again.

“Hopper? Hop? Wake up. We’re going to head out now.”

He grumbled before opening his eyes.

“What? Why? I haven’t been discharged yet.”

She had a split second to decide whether to tell him the truth about breaking him out of the hospital, or to tell a small white lie. She was never good at lying.

“The nurses discharged you whilst you were asleep. We signed all the paperwork. We can go now.”

He looked at her suspiciously again. “It’s still dark out.”

Joyce looked out the window and smiled before looking back at him. “Well, you know. They need the beds these days.” She took his clothes and placed them on the bed next to him. “Now get dressed. Here are your clothes. Let’s get out of here.” She helped Hopper get out of bed. He was a little shaky, so he sat on the edge. Joyce continued looking at him, willing him to get dressed so they could leave as soon as possible. He went to take his gown off before stopping and looking at her.

“Err, would you mind?”

Joyce gasped, realising what he meant. “Oh! Yes, sorry!” She flustered. “I’ll go and just, um, stand over here.” She pointed at the corner and turned around, looking out of the window. She heard him rustling around.

“Um, Joyce?”

“Yes?” She called over her shoulder.

“I’m going to need your help.”

Joyce gulped before turning around. “Oh, OK.” He had gotten caught up in his gown, his shoulder injury stopping him from moving his arm too much.

“I’m stuck.”

…

Murray had managed to find a wheelchair without asking anyone. He wheeled it to Hopper’s room. He was not prepared for the scene that was in front of him when he walked in.

He swore in Russian. “Sorry, I didn’t, I didn’t realise that you two would be, er –“

Hopper was sat on the edge of his bed, facing Murray. Joyce was kneeling on the floor, her back to Murray, facing Hopper.

“Murray! I’m trying to get his jeans on! He can’t move very well so I had to help him.

Murray shut his eyes. “Can you hurry up please?”

“Yes, yes, yes, I’m done. Come on, let’s go.”

Murray wheeled the wheelchair over to Hopper, who looked at it. “Why do I need a wheelchair? I’m perfectly fine walking.”

Murray and Joyce looked at each other, before Murray turned back to look at him with a big smile. “Nothing but the best service for my brother!”

“I know you’re not my brother.”

“No, you’re friends. Come on Hop, let’s just wheel you out to the car. You don’t want to hurt yourself before you’ve even left the hospital, do you?”

Hopper paused for a brief moment before nodding and sitting in the wheelchair. “Let’s go.”


	9. Chapter 9

Whilst Murray drove, Joyce and Hopper sat in the back, an awkward silence descending on them until Joyce decided to break it.

“So we used to go to high school together. We were in the same classes.” Hopper nods. “Yeah, Hawkins High. We first met under the bleachers. I was really, really pissed off. I’d just been given detention.”

“What for?” Hopper asked, taking in everything she said.

“I can’t remember now. Probably smoking by the bike racks.” She shook her head and smiled. “I was crying my eyes out, seeking shelter under the bleachers when you waltz in and tell me that it’s not as bad I’m making it out to be, even though you had no idea what had happened. I really wanted to thump you then. That wasn’t the last time I’ve felt that either.” Her laughter filled the air. “You offered me a smoke and then it kinda became a thing that we did every day. Then you got your car, that banged up number, do you remember?” She stopped abruptly and scrunched up her nose. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK. I know this is probably more difficult for you than it is for me.”

Joyce smiled at him. “I’ve missed you.” She bowed her head. “Sorry.”

Hopper took her hand and squeezed it slightly before letting go. “It’s OK. I want to know about my life, our life.”

“We drifted apart after leaving school. You would still pick me up every so often and we’d go on one of our car journeys. Sometimes we’d end up on Hawkins Hill, ya’know, where everyone went for a bit of fun in the backseat of the car.” Joyce caught Murray’s eye as he looked at her in the mirror, his cocked eyebrows laughing at her. Her eyes scolded him back. “Anyway, our car journeys became less and less. I had met Lonnie and you had met Diane. Beautiful blonde, blue eyes. You couldn’t believe your luck. You spent more and more time with her when suddenly you stopped coming over for me. Before I knew it, you had married her and I had married Lonnie. Our lives no longer intwined.” Hopper noted the sadness in her voice. “A year or so later, I heard that you were leaving Hawkins and were gonna go and live elsewhere. You’d decided to join the army and had to relocate. I heard Diane wasn’t best pleased. I wanted to see you to say goodbye, but I chickened out. More than once. I bumped into you, though, on Main Street. You knew as soon as you saw me. However much I tried to hide it, you knew I was pregnant. You wished me well and walked off. That was the last I saw of you for years.”

Hopper watched all the emotions dancing across her face. He couldn’t really remember anything and he willed his memories to come flooding back, not just for him, but for her as well. “Was that the last you ever saw of me?”

Joyce shook her head. “No. You came back to Hawkins.” Hopper could tell that there was something in her voice, something that she wasn’t telling him. Suddenly she pointed out of the window, almost making him jump. “We’re here. This is Main Street Hawkins.” Hopper looked out of the window. It was a small town, the square no bigger than 10 parking spaces. Shops lined the square. He continued to look out of the window, not turning to her.

“Why did I come back?”

A pause.

“Why did I come back, Joyce?”

“You left the army on medical terms, then a year later, you had a daughter.”

He looked at her then. A memory starting to appear in his mind’s eye. A child in a hospital bed, but not a little girl, a teenage boy, writing around in pain. He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly.

“She didn’t make it, did she?”

Tears started to prick at Joyce’s eyes. She shook her head. “No. Sarah had cancer and passed away.”

“Sarah.” Hopper whispered, moving one hand to his wrist and trying to find something that wasn’t there. “That’s why I came back. Diane and I fell apart, so I came back to before it all started.”

Joyce nodded. “You weren’t in a great state, Hop. It was the police work that saved you.”

“I was in the police?”

“You worked your way up to Sheriff. For your lunches, you used to come into the shop where I worked. We wouldn’t say much to each other, our past a distant memory.”

As they drove out of Main Street, Hopper had a sudden flashback of seeing Joyce walking along the road, two young boys holding her hands. “You have two boys.”

“Yes! Yes, I do. Jonathan and Will.”

Hopper turned to Joyce. “Why would I remember that?”

“Because about three years ago, our lives changed forever, Will being the trigger for it all.” She paused. “Is this too much for you? It must be so much to take in.”

Hopper shook his head. “No. No, I want to know. I need to know.”

“Murray, can you pull up over here please?”

“Sure.”

“This is where you worked.” They had pulled up outside of the police station. “This is where you were based. This is where I spoke to you for the fist time in years. I told you that Will was missing.”

Hopper remembered seeing her sat in an office, presumably his office. He felt the car move again.

“You thought Lonnie had taken him – we had been divorced for years, soon after Will was born. It wasn’t Lonnie though.” She paused, not knowing how she was going to explain everything that had happened since. “Things got a bit, strange.” Hopper looked at her, confused. Joyce looked at Murray and nodded.

“What do you mean, strange?” Hopper asked, looking between Joyce and Murray, who was concentrating on the road.

“This. This is why.” Joyce looked out of the window behind Hopper as the car came to a stop. Hopper saw a huge building. It looked abandoned with fencing all around the outside. It looked like it had tight security.

“What is this place?”

“This is Hawkins lab. This is where the Government were trying to get into a different universe called the upside-down.”

Hopper looked back at her and paused for a moment. “I knew I couldn’t trust you. Why did I come on this wild goose chase?” He opened the door and clambered out.

“Go get him!” Murray shouted at Joyce, who was already clambering out the other side.

“Hop! Hopper! Please!” She called as she jogged after him. When she caught up with him, she grabbed his arm and turned him as best as she could. “I know, I know. It sounds bonkers.”

“Yeah, no shit!” Hopper went to walk off again, but she stopped him.

“No! No! You listen to me, Jim Hopper! Before Will disappeared, you think I even thought about there being another universe. This crazy ass place that mirrors ours, but is full of dark and cold and monsters –“

“Monsters?” Hopper scoffed. “Have you heard yourself? You’re batshit crazy, woman!”

Joyce flipped. “I thought I was when all of this started and you know the only person who believed in me? YOU!” She slapped his chest before getting back into the car. Tears started to roll down her cheek once again. “He was the only one who believed in me, Murray. Why can’t he believe me now?”

“I think we’re about to find out.” Murray said as he watched Hopper turn around, walk back to the car and get back in. An awkward silence filled the air, until Joyce started to talk softly.

“I know it sounds crazy. I thought I had lost my mind, but when Will disappeared, I could feel that he was still alive. Like a sixth sense, ya’know. I could feel how desperate he felt, the cold shivering through, how he was just about clinging on to life.” She paused, stopping the tears from falling. “When everyone else thought I was crazy, you believed in me. You followed me into that hellhole and you saved my son. We’ve been through so much together since then, some horrific things that you couldn’t even conjure up in your nightmares. That’s how we started to become closer.”

“Show me.” Joyce looked at Hopper, confusion written across her face. “Show me where it all started.”

Joyce nodded. “OK.”

…

Joyce had gotten Murray to drive to where her and Hopper had broken in the last time they were at the lab. She pulled the fence apart and led Hopper into the lab, with Murray staying in the car.

As soon as they enter, Hopper feels a sense of recognition, a sense of familiarity. He looks around at the dark, dingy walls, doors leading off in every direction. As they’re in the entrance, he picks up on Joyce’s reluctance and he sees her tense her shoulders.

“Something happened here to you, didn’t it?”

Joyce turned around, the memories flooding back to her. She nodded her head and smiled a fond smile. “We weren’t together long. He was so kind and loving and made me feel safe when I was with him. It was a good time in my life.” Hopper saw her look down at a spot on the floor and made the connection. He walked towards her when suddenly something triggered in his mind’s eye. He saw a man laying on the spot that Joyce was looking at. He remembers grabbing Joyce as she screamed and pulling her out the door. He hears her scream a name.

“Bob.” He says to her and she looks at him.

“Yes, his name was Bob.”

“I remember him.” He nods, not wanting to go into any more detail so he didn’t upset Joyce. He had done enough of that already. “So where did it all start?”

“I’ll show you.”

…

As he followed Joyce through the winding corridors, walking past rooms and rooms and rooms of equipment. Joyce explained to him about how the Government had been experimenting and had found a way into another universe. He found it difficult to get his head round it, but if he could turn up without having any memory of who he is, then anything is possible. He trusted this fiery, strong, passionate woman in front of him and he was going to figure out how his life entwined with hers.

After a few minutes, Joyce led him into a room. “This is where the first gate in Hawkins opened. It was black. Like blackened roots intwined together. I can’t really explain it. It had opened on that wall there.”

Hopper made his way over to where she was pointing, taking everything in. He slowly reached out and touched it. Suddenly, everything went white and he shut his eyes, images dancing around his head. He saw what Joyce had described, going through it, stepping out into a cold and dark world. His concern for Joyce coursed through his body as he remembered seeing her face in a hazmat suit, the bright orange glaring at him. He remembered finding her son, pulling something snake-like out of his mouth and shooting it. Reviving the ghostly boy. Hugging Joyce.

Hopper stepped back from the wall and opened his eyes. Joyce was stood next to him, her hand rubbing his back.

“Hop, are you OK?”

He blinked at her. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just need to sit down.”

He let Joyce guide him to the floor. “I remember going into that place.” He rubbed his temples.

“The upside-down?” Joyce asked, sitting down next to him.

“I remember finding your son, finding Will. Pulling a snake-like creature out of his mouth. Resuscitating him.”

“It was horrible. But you were there for me. You were there for Will. I will always be grateful to you.”

“Somehow, I know that I would do anything for you. For you and your kids. Our kids?” Hopper caught Joyce’s eye. “Why would I say ‘our’ kids? Do we –“

“No, no, no, no.”

Hopper nodded. He could tell that Joyce was hiding something, but didn’t want to push her.

“I must have said it because I felt like your sons were like my own?” Joyce smiled at him and he could tell that she liked that thought.

“Actually, Hop, after Sara, you had another daughter. Her name is El.”

At El’s name, memories started to swirl around in Hopper’s head. Seeing a young girl floating in a paddling pool in the middle of a hall. Carrying a young girl, shivering as snow fell all around them, to a cabin in a woods. A young girl screaming at him and slamming the door in his face. A young girl, looking up at him with tears in her eyes as they sat in the front of a truck. Hugging a young girl as she lay injured in a shopping mall. Remembering a young girl as he looked at Joyce through a glass window before everything went white and then black. He looked back at Joyce.

“I remember her. I adopted her from this hellhole.” He gestured around.

“You did. You were both trying to find your feet with each other before, ya’know.”

“Mike.”

“Yes. Her first boyfriend.”

“They wouldn’t keep the door open three god damn inches!”

Joyce giggled.

“I’m serious! I remember the overwhelming feeling of helplessness. Not knowing what I was doing.”

“You tried to sit them down to talk about it, but you ended up –“

“Threatening Mike, yes, I remember.” Hopper stood up and paced, remembering about Mike and El and his own frustrations about needing to keep them both safe, in more ways than one. He looked over at Joyce, who was sitting on some scaffolding, looking up at him, a smile playing across her lips. His mirrored hers when suddenly another memory surrounded him. He heard his words come tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. “It’s important to me that you feel safe, that this can still be your home.” A warmth spread across his body as he looked at her, remembering how much she had meant to him. Still meant to him. Then his heart sank as he remembered the rest of the conversation.

“You were going to move away.” He knew her heart sunk, like his had, at his words. He remembered seeing her like that when he had said those words to her when they were last here. “You did move away.”

She stood up and moved closer to him and he could almost see everything that she had gone through, everything she had had to endure throughout her life, as he stared at her.

“I didn’t have anyone who cared for me in Hawkins anymore. Just memories that haunted me.”

Hopper didn’t say anything. He lifted his hand and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as he said, “I’m sorry that I left you.”

Joyce laid her hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating, reassuring her that he really was there with her.

“You don’t ever have to apologise to me.”

Hopper held her arms and pressed his forehead to hers.

“I need to remember more. I need to remember you. I need to remember us.”


	10. Chapter 10

As they both got into the car, waking up a sleeping Murray, Joyce told him to move over and she’ll drive. He obliged and they were soon on their way to the power plant, with a few stops along the way. As Joyce showed Hopper various places, like the police station again and their houses, memories started to reappear for Hopper and he started to remember everything about his life.

“I’m still a little hazy about what happened over the last few years or so.” He told her.

“Do you think it would help if I took you to the last place I saw you?” She asked, looking over at him, trying not to let the fear show through her eyes. “Do you think you’re ready. This has been such a full on few hours, it can’t be good.”

“I’m fine. I just want to remember what happened to me.”

She nodded, turning left to make their way to the power plant as dusk started to fall.

…

Surprisingly, it wasn’t too difficult to get in. There was no security, doors were open, the dust starting to thicken.

“Hawkins seem to be a hotspot for weird shit, huh?” Hopper laughed, looking around the abandoned Russian base. “You would think a Russian base underneath a shopping mall would be your main concern, but from what I remember about those monster things, this seems like the least of our concerns.”

“Yeah, who knew our little sleepy town would become monster-ville.”

Joyce retraced the journey they had taken on that day, all the way to the steps where she had let down her barriers a little. She knew every turn, every door, every corridor. She had been through this journey every day in her head since loosing him. The fact that she knew exactly where she was going hadn’t gone unnoticed by him.

When they arrived at the steps, Joyce stopped and sat down on the side she had been. Hopper stood to the side, a familiar feeling sweeping through him.

“This is where we waited for Murray to get his ass in gear. Me and you had been arguing all day.” She smiled. “He called us out on it a few times.”

“He called us children. I remember.” Hopper nodded, noticing Joyce blush coyly. She stood up nervously, gathering her hair up in her hands before letting it fall down again around her shoulders. It was enough to jog Hopper’s memories.

“… like it’s the end of the god damn world.”

That look.

“… Detective Byers.”

“…Enzos. 7. Friday.”

“What’s wrong, Hop?” Joyce asked, conscious that he was staring at her with a glazed look.

Hopper walked towards her.

“We never made it.”

“We never made what?” Joyce broke his eye contact, but soon looked back at him again when she realised he was even closer to her.

“We never made it to Enzo’s.”

His whole body had changed and his voice sounded more like him.

“Hop.” She whispered.

“Joyce.” He breathed. Before they knew it, Hopper had gathered Joyce up in his arms, his lips on hers. He held her face gently in his hands as hers came up to grab his shirt to pull him closer. His arms wrapped around her waist and back. They hadn’t realised that they had been backing up until Joyce hit a wall.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” Joyce squirmed. “Door handle!” They both turned to look at it, then at each other and burst out giggling. Hopper rubbed the small of her back, before bringing her back in for another hug. He kissed the top of her head.

“You still up for Enzo’s? Friday. 8pm.” His voice was gruff.

“El likes to watch Miami Vice on Fridays.” She responded.

“7?”

“It’s a date.” Joyce looked up at him and kissed him again, before whispering, “It’s a date.”

They stood embraced for a few minutes, enjoying each other’s company, memories flooding all around them, their barriers broken down.

“I’d like to show you something.” Joyce piped up as she pulled out of his embrace, missing his warmth already and walking towards the door they had bumped into. Hopper followed her, realising where they were going.

They walked up to the two consoles where the keys had been. The glass in the windows missing, all over the floor. Joyce stared at the consoles, her eyes glazed over. She had seen those consoles in her mind’s eyes every day since she had lost Hopper. He noticed her silent stare, so wrapped his hand around hers and squeezed tightly.

“It’s not your fault.” He whispered in her ear, making her jump slightly.

She shook her head. “Yes. It was. I twisted the keys. I made the machine explode. I killed you.”

Hopper pulled her other arm and twisted her around to face him.

“Look at me.”

She looked away, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“Look. At. Me.” He said again as her eyes drifted up to his. “It was not your fault. If you hadn’t done what you had to, there would be nobody left. That thing, it would have gotten everybody. You saved everyone, Joyce. You’re the hero here, not the villain.”

“You didn’t see El’s face. You didn’t see her crumble as she realised you were gone.”

“Yet you did, and you stood back up, brushed yourself off and became her mother. That’s one reason why I love you.”

It had taken them both by surprise. 

“I’m alive, Joyce. I’m here. I’m back.”

She flung herself into his him and he held her close.

“I love you, too.”

Hopper closed his eyes, relief flooding his body. He had survived whatever had happened and he had Joyce back. As he opened them again, he saw the machine that had parted them. He let go of Joyce and headed down to the platform.

The machine that the Russians had built was destroyed. The thing that split Joyce and Hopper apart had been destroyed. There was nothing left. It was almost as if their relationship had withstood the strands of time.

Hopper looked up at the glass room and seeing Joyce looking down at him, he remembers being hit over the head. His hand automatically reaches up to touch the back of his head. He opens his eyes and gestures for Joyce to join him on the platform.

“I remember now. I remember everything.”

Joyce nodded, encouraging him to go on.

“Just before the blast, I was hit over the head. I remember stumbling backwards as a blinding white light filled the room. When I came round, I saw a gate in front of me. I was laying on the ground and realised I was back in that place, in the upside-down. I needed to get back to you, to El. I stood up and ran for the gate. Everything was blurry and spinning. As I stumbled towards the gate, it closed and I came to rest on a wall. I remember screaming your name before I blacked out again. It all goes a bit blurry. I remember walking through trees, stumbling over, collapsing, waking up. Where I was going, I have no idea. Then I remember waking up to someone carrying me. They were in a hazmat suit. I couldn’t fight back, the head injury. I fell unconscious again and the next time I woke up, I remember looking around and seeing hospital equipment, but it didn’t feel like a hospital, ya’know?”

He paused.

“Oh, Hop.” Joyce rubbed his arm, trying to reassure him. He continued.

“I don’t know what they did to me, Joyce. I was in and out of consciousness. I heard British voices. Felt things going in to me. Seeing people in lab coats. What did they do to me?”

He looked vulnerable and almost scared. Joyce pulled him into a hug, squeezing him as tightly as possible.

“I don’t know what they did to you, Hop. But you’re here. You’re standing in front of me.”

He nodded. “The last thing I remember about that place was being bundled into a car. I heard them talking about Russians infiltrating their lab, that they had to get rid of everything. One of them said to kill me, but another told them not to, that I deserved to live. I remember being thrown out of the car as it drove down the interstate, then the next thing I know, I was in that hospital you found me in. Suddenly you were there and –“

His memories are interrupted by Joyce’s cellphone ringing.

“Oh shit!” Her voice full of frustration as she fumbled for her phone. “Hello? Jonathan! Slow down. What’s wrong?” There was a pause and she looked at Hopper. “Shit. OK, drive safely, but get here as fast as you can. We’ll be in Starcourt. I’ll explain when you get here. OK. See you soon.”

As soon as she hung up, Hopper knew it was serious.

“What’s happened?”

She looked up at him and he knew there was something she didn’t want to tell him.

“Joyce?”

“They stormed my house.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. The same people that stormed Murray’s? They’ve taken El, Hop. They’ve taken her.”

“We need to find her.” Hopper went to run out but Joyce stopped him.

“We won’t be able to. Where would we start?”

Hopper knew she was right. She was always right.

“She’s my daughter, Joyce.”

“And she’s my daughter too.” Joyce had puffed herself up, almost matching Hopper. Her eyes were full of frustration.

“I’m sorry, I know, I’m sorry.”

“Callie found you, she will be able to find El. We just need to wait until she gets here.”


	11. Chapter 11

Hopper thought Joyce might explode, or wear a hole through the floor as she paced around the room.

“Joyce, will you just sit, or just stand in one place!” Hopper rubbed his forehead.

“How can you stay so calm?” She walked past him and Hopper squeezed his eyes shut, remembering a similar conversation they had had before.

“I’m not calm, Joyce, but there is nothing we can do until the kids arrive. You even told me that not five minutes ago! Now stop, otherwise I’ll go find Murray and help him gather whatever it is he’s gathering.”

She looked at him as his eyes bore into hers before she nodded and sat down next to him. They sat in silence for a while, neither knowing for how long, until they heard Murray chattering away to someone. As they neared, Joyce recognised Jonathan’s voice and immediately went to greet them.

“Jonathan, Will, are you OK?” She asked, bringing them both into a hug.

“We’re fine Mom. It’s El that we’re worried about.”

“Where do you think they took her? Who were they?”

“I don’t know. It all went so quickly- “

“You must know something!” Hopper almost shouted, taking a step closer to Jonathan.

“Hop, he doesn’t know.” Joyce put her hand on his chest to try to placate him, before turning around to the kids standing in front of her, looking scared and disorientated. “Callie, how’re you doing, sweetie?”

Callie nodded. “I… I’m OK.” She accepted Joyce’s hug before spilling her heart. “I’m sorry. I tried to stop them taking her. They were too strong for me, for us. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Joyce tightened her hug.

“Shhh, it’s OK. You did good.” Joyce rubbed her back before pulling away slightly and looking into her eyes. “You are so amazing, but I have to ask you to help us one last time. I’m sorry.” She wiped the tear that was starting to fall down Callie’s cheek. Suddenly Callie looked strengthened and determined.

“I’ll do anything I can to find her.”

“Thank you.” Hopper said appearing alongside them both. He stroked Callie’s arm in a reassuring way. Callie pulled a small teddy bear from her pocket.

“This is what I could grab of El’s. I’ll use this to find her.”

Suddenly Hop had another memory flash before his eyes.

“I gave that to her just after I had found her in the woods and had taken her to the cabin.”

Callie nodded and smiled “It was on her bed.”

Murray interjected. “This is all very lovely indeed, but we need to get moving to find El so we can all go home.”

“OK, OK.” Callie said, trying to find a comfortable spot to sit down. She closed her eyes and held the teddy bear in her hands. She tried to find that darkness, the silence, but her frustrations got the better of her. “Ugh, I can’t do it!” She flung her arms up in the air. “I need the static. Are there any TVs or anything in this place.”

Murray shook his head. “No, I looked before you came.”

“Damn it. Will, can you put something around my eyes please?” Callie was not going to give up. She crossed her legs, held the teddy bear a bit tighter and shut her eyes before Will placed something over her eyes. “Where are you, El?” She whispered before concentrating on the hum of the silence around her. She opens her eyes and she’s standing there in the void, the darkness enveloping her and the silence deafening. She slowly hears a mumbling coming from the distance and someone up ahead. She moves forward with purpose, but alert. As she nears, she sees it’s El, surrounded by water, like a big droplet all around her, a contraption on her head. Callie would recognise one of those tanks anywhere.

“El?” Callie tries to go through the water to get to her, but it acts like a solid. She starts to bash on the water. “El! Can you hear me? Where are you?” El keeps her eyes shut, repeating the numbers one to thirteen over and over again. Suddenly her eyes snap open and she screams at Callie. The water splashes down as El falls through the floor. Callie tries to grab her but gets pulled through the floor. She feels like she is falling through cold water and she struggles to breath. Suddenly she’s pulled back to reality, chaos has erupted around her again. She hears her name being called by Joyce, Hopper and Murray. She sees that they’re all being held back, Jonathan and Will struggling wildly against the people that had taken El. They had found them again. She felt someone pulling her and a bag go over her head. She shouted the only thing she could think of. “WATER! WATER! WATER!” She kept shouting it until suddenly everything went black.

….

How they had gotten away, she’ll never remember. She ran behind Jonathan and Will, Murray behind her and Hopper in front, dodging trees and bushes as they ran through the forest. Suddenly Hopper stops and they all almost collide into him.

“Shhhhhhhhh!” He hushes as he bends down, trying to catch his breath. He listens out. “We’re safe, we lost them.”

“Who are they?” Joyce asks through breathing hard, rasping.

“Murray?” Hop asks. Murray holds his finger up, indicating that he needs some more time to get his breath.

“They always seem to turn up when Callie or El go into the void. They must know when they do it.” Jonathan pipes up. Murray points at him as confirmation.

“Are they Russian?” Will asks. Murray shakes his head.

“No.” He rasps. “They didn’t look or sound Russian. They were British. I’ve heard them on the radio waves for a while now.”

“That would make sense. The people who took me from the up-side down were British.” Hopper says.

“What do they want with El and Callie, though?” Joyce put her arm around Will and squeezed him.

“Whatever it is, we’re going to find them and bring them home.” Hopper tries his best not to get angry, but Joyce can see it written all over his face. She looks at him gently and his face softens slightly.

“Water.” Will said, looking at his Mom. “That’s what Callie shouted at us before they took her.”

“What could she mean by that?” Jonathan asked as they started to follow Hopper again.

“The lake?”

“I don’t think so. We’re near the lake at the moment, they’d be swarming this place.”

They walked along in silence for a while, each milling over the events of the last few days.

“Where we going, Jim?” Murray was getting tired. He wasn’t cut out for all this walking.

“Just follow me, we’re nearly there.” Hopper called back, not even looking over his shoulder.

“What about the water tower?” Will piped up after another five minute walk in silence. “The old one hasn’t been in use for years.”

“It could mean absolutely anything!” Hopper’s frustration was starting to show.

“It makes sense. You could hide anything in the tower. Hop, it’s the only lead we really have.” Joyce tried to placate him. There was a pause before Hopper nodded.

“OK, let’s give it a try. We’re here.”

They had arrived at Hopper’s cabin that was nestled in the woods. After the Russians had been forced out of Hawkins, Hopper was told it was safe, so he moved El back into his home and boarded up the cabin in the woods for a rainy day. He found the hammer he had hidden and prised the wooden boards from the front of the door. When they made their way in, the dust was thick in the air, but everything else was as they had left it. As the sun started to dip behind the horizon, Hopper flicked the light switch and sat down with everyone.

“Jonathan, Will, you’re staying here.”

“But-“

“No buts. You need to stay safe and this is the safest place at the moment.” The boys nodded and sat back, Joyce smiled at Hopper protecting them like his own. “As soon as it gets dark enough, your Mom, Murray and I will head out, scope it out and make a plan.” He turned to Murray. “Do you have any weapons?”

Murray shook his head. “No.”

Hopper stood up and went into his bedroom. They all heard a couple of drawers opening before he emerged with 2 pistols. He handed one to Murray and one to Jonathan before holstering his own.

“Just in case you need it.” He said to a nodding Jonathan.

“What about me?” Joyce asked. Hopper paused what he was doing and looked at her.

“You don’t exactly have the best record with guns, do you?” He raised one of his eyebrows. She wanted to protest, but knew it would be to no avail.  
“Now all we have to do is wait.” Hopper said as he sat down.


	12. Chapter 12

“Well this is definitely the place.” Hopper said as they peered through the trees at the water tower, watching a lone soldier having a sneaky cigarette underneath the towering structure.

“Why isn’t there more security though? There’s nothing. If the soldier hadn’t been smoking when we got here, how would we have known this was even the right place?” Joyce questioned as she shuffled on her feet, knocking into Hopper.

“The more security, the more suspicious it looks.” Murray answered, looking through a pair of binoculars Hopper had found in a drawer in the cabin. “Fences, cameras, traps – it all draws attention.”

“Oh, like your place, Murray? How’d that work out for ya?” Hopper teased, flinching when Joyce smacked his arm.

“Hop!”

“Too soon, Jim.” Murray didn’t even look away from his binoculars.

“So where’s the base located do you reckon?” Joyce asked, trying to stop their conversation turning into an argument.

“I reckon underground. The tower would be too small to house anything big. Plus it wouldn’t stand a chance against the amount of energy they would need to open another gate.” Murray said, again, not looking away from his binoculars.

“That’s if they’re actually trying to open a gate. They could be doing anything.” Hopper said, wanting to light a cigarette, but not wanting to give away their position.

“Well how are we going to get in there to save the girls?” Joyce asked.

“We could dig our way down.” Murray quipped.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Shhhh, wait!” Murray suddenly hissed. “The soldier, he’s just swiped a card on the pipe. A door’s opened in front of him. He’s stepped into the pipe. The door’s shut again. It must be a lift.”

“Well go on then.” Hopper hisses back. “Go see if you can open it.”

“But, why me?” At last, Murray looks away from the binoculars.

“Because you’re the only one that can figure out how to get inside with one of those cards. Now, go!”

“But-“ Before he could say anymore, Hopper had swiped the binoculars from him and pushed him out of the tree line. Murray froze. They waited for sirens to go off, search lights to appear, soldiers to tackle Murray to the ground. But nothing. Murray looked like a rabbit caught in headlights before Hopper whispered as loud as he dared for him to get a move on. As he scurried away and up to the pipe, Joyce turned to Hopper.

“You know, me and you can figure the card thingy out too.”

“I know.” Hopper turned to look at her. “I just wanted to see if anything would happen if we stepped into the vicinity.”

“Hop!” Joyce sounded distraught, which was met by a laugh from Hopper.

“Oh he’s OK. Look.” Hopper pointed back towards Murray who had found nothing where the soldier had disappeared into. He shrugged at them from the distance. Hopper sighed. “That man is useless.”

Joyce and Hopper made their way over to where Murray stood, Joyce reminding Hopper about everything that Murray had done for them.

“It look like some sort of lift, but I’m not sure how to activate it, or if we should open it.” Murray almost pushed Hopper in front of the door.

“Hmmm.” Hopper felt around the edge of the door when suddenly a beep sounded from in front of them.

“What have you done?!” Murray was mortified.

“I haven’t done-“ But before Hopper could finish his answer, the door swiped open and he stood face to face with a British soldier. Hopper narrowed his eyes and bit his bottom lip, taking in a sharp breath. “Hmmm, OK. Here goes.” Before the soldier could react, Hopper threw a right hook and knocked the soldier unconscious.

“What have you done!?” Murray repeated.

“Just shut up and help me put him over there.”

As Hopper and Murray moved the soldier, Joyce grabbed his key card and held the lift door open. As Murray and Hopper squeezed in with her, she chimed, “Anyone going up?” She couldn’t help the flutter of butterflies that appeared as soon as Hopper squeezed up against her. He gave her a knowing smile and she smiled back before looking coyly away.

When the lift opened, they walked out into the inside of the water tower.

Murray was impressed. “Wow, someone’s modified this place up to it’s eyeballs. No security in here, either. Trust the British to be this cocky.”

They all gazed upon what was below them from a small glass room. Thirteen tanks filled with water, most with a person floating in them. They all had contraptions and breathing apparatus covering their heads and they were all unconscious. One of the tanks was empty.

“All of the cables go into the lift tunnel. They must go underground, connecting to something.”

“Over here!” Joyce called softly, motioning for the others to join her at a table. “They’re connected to this machine.” She pointed to a monitor showing four CCTV live videos.

“It looks exactly like the one under StarCourt. They’re trying to get back to the upside-down.” Hopper looked at Joyce. “I can’t go back there again, Joyce.” She could see the pain and terror behind his eyes and all she wanted to do was hug him.

“We’ve stopped it before. We’ll stop it again, and we’ll all survive.” She said it with such an icy determination, that they both believed her.

“There’s too many people down there.” Murray interjected. “We’ll need to stop it from up here.”

“El has to be here somewhere. This is exactly what they subjected her to before.” Hopper rushed down the steps and started to look in all the tanks, Joyce and Murray following closely behind him.

“They must all be El’s brothers and sisters.” Joyce called from somewhere in between the tanks.

“This is the one that’s empty!” Murray echoed as they all found each other and crowded around the empty tank. “This one must be for Callie.”

“We need to save them all, Hop.” Joyce pleaded.

“We will, don’t worry.” He calmed her by caressing her arm. “If we find El, we can stop this from going south.” Joyce nodded and they all disappeared in different directions.

Suddenly Joyce called out. “Hop, she’s over here!”

Hopper rushed to Joyce’s voice instinctively. “El, I’m here sweetheart. I’m here.” Even though he knew she was unconscious, she looked like there was no life left in her. She looked pale and fragile. “I need to get her out.” He climbed up the ladder to Joyce’s protests as she tried to stop him. He started grabbing at cables and pulling at locks. “Come on!” He grunted.

“Don’t do that, Jim.” Murray came rushing over.

“I’ve got to get her out of here.”

“I know, but we don’t know what will happen if we disconnect her, or any of them, from that machine. For all we know, that machine could be keeping them, her, alive.”

“But she’s my daughter! I won’t let them do this to her again!”

“I know, but-“ Murray couldn’t answer as the lift beeped again.

“Shit! Hide!” Joyce hissed, almost pulling Hopper off from El’s tank. They all hid around some boxes, watching a lone soldier emerge from the lift, wheeling in an unconscious Callie. They watched as the soldier wheeled Callie up to the tank numbered eight. Hopper caught Murray’s eyes and nodded towards the soldier. Murray shook his head, his eyes wide. Hopper gestured for them to both go and fight the soldier, but Murray shook his head again. Hopper rolled his eyes dramatically before pushing Murray out from behind the boxes. Murray scarpered, attracting the attention of the soldier who looked up. Hopper ran up to him and paused. The soldier turned around to face Murray who had surprised himself by getting behind the soldier to stop his escape route. The soldier turned back around again and into Hopper’s fist, knocking him out.

“We need to hide him or tie him up or something!” Murray exclaimed.

“On it.” Joyce appeared around one of the tanks with some rope she had found discarded in a box. Hopper tried to wake Callie.

“Callie, are you ok? Callie?” She didn’t stir. “Shit.” 

“Oh my god.” Murray gazed around and back at Hopper and Joyce who had stopped what they were doing and were looking at him.

“What?”

“They’re using the power of the children to open up a gate that’s even stronger than we’ve seen.”


	13. Chapter 13

They get interrupted by a crackle on a radio somewhere.

“What’s going on up there?”

Murray finds the radio on the unconscious soldier and looks at it, not knowing what to do. Hopper grabs it from him, presses the button and puts on his best British accent, Joyce and Murray staring at him with wide eyes and their mouths open.

“It’s all going to plan, just a slight delay.” Hopper shrugged at the others and shook his head, eyes and mouth open wide.

The radio crackled to life again. “Well hurry up! We need number 8 hooked up to get started. Sooner rather than later.”

Callie started to stir, groaning in the process as she lifted her hands to her head. Joyce immediately turned back to her and bent down, trying to shush her quietly. Hopper moved away as fast as he could so the people on the other end of the radio couldn’t hear.

“Understood.” Hopper tossed the radio aside and ran back to where the others were. Callie had woken up properly and Joyce was trying to calm her down and explain what was happening. Callie looks around, dazed, taking everything in.

“They’re using us to open a gate into the darkness?”

“Yes, but we stopped them before they got you into the tank. We need to think of a plan to stop them. You’re the last piece of the jigsaw.”

Callie nodded at Joyce, who gave her a hug. As Callie looked over Joyce’s shoulder, she saw El floating in her tank. Callie pulled away from Joyce, swaying as though she was going to fall. Hopper grabbed her and steadied her as best as he could before leading her to place her hands on El’s tank.

“El. What are they doing to you?” A tear slipped down Callie’s cheek.

“We need to hurry. We don’t have long until they realise there’s something amiss up here.” Murray said.

“Have we got a plan?” Callie asked.

“No. We need to get these kids out of here.” Hopper said, looking at Callie as though she was their last hope.

“But El doesn’t have her powers. How can they open a gate when one of them doesn’t have their powers?” Callie knocked on the glass.

“We don’t know if she has her powers back, though. They could have done anything to her.” Hopper moved next to Callie and put his hand on the glass too, willing El to wake up and save them. After all, she had always been the strongest of them all. He looked over at Joyce, who looked at him worriedly. She had been the mother to his child for a long time. He moved over to her and collected her in his arms, squeezing her as hard as he dared. “She’ll be alright.” He whispered into her hair. He felt her nod. When he pulled away, he saw the tears brimming over. He gently kissed them away before caressing her cheek.

“Ahem.” Murray cleared his throat. “We don’t have time-“

“Murray, I’ve got a plan. Take your gun and shove it—“

“Aaaaaaand, we need an actual real plan.” Joyce tapped Hopper’s arm. Before turning to Callie. “Sweetheart, is there anything you can do?”

Callie thought for a moment before turning back to El. “Unhook her.”

“We can’t do that.” Murray said, moving forward, ready to stop her.

“You need to hook me up in my tank.”

“No, we’re not doing that.” Joyce said, “It’s too risky.”

Callie turned to Hopper, who hadn’t said anything. “Jim, you have to. It’s the only way.”

Hopper paused. “What have you got planned?”

“No, Hop, we’re not putting Callie at risk.”

Callie ignored Joyce, speaking to Hopper directly. “I don’t know what will happen to El if we unhook her now, but I can use my powers to make everyone working here think that something is wrong with the machine. I will make them see that it’s blown up. That way, they will leave and we can save everyone in the tanks.”

“Why do you need to be hooked up?”

“It will make me stronger.”

“Hop, you can’t seriously-“

“Joyce, it’s the only plan we have.” He turned to her, pleading with her using his eyes. She paused before nodding slowly.

“If Callie is happy to do it, then let’s do it.”

“Anything for El.” Callie nodded.

“Murray, unhook El and I’ll lift her out.”

“No.” Murray stood his ground, not moving.

“Yes, you are.” Hopper grabbed him and shoved him towards El’s tank.

“Jiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmm!” Joyce and Callie heard Murray call as Hopper pushed him around. They watched as Murray unhooked El and opened the lid, before Hopper pulled her out. Murray managed to take the helmet off her head as Hopper tried to bring her round. It was a tense wait for Joyce and Callie who couldn’t see what was happened.

“What’s going on?” Callie called.

“Give us a minute!” Murray called back. Suddenly, they heard coughing and spluttering. Joyce couldn’t stand it any longer and ran around the tank and up the steps to see Hopper holding El who was coughing and spluttering.

“El!” She bent down and put another arm around her as Hopper patted her back. “Are you OK, sweetheart?” El’s coughing and spluttering calmed down and she nodded, flinging her arms around Joyce. Joyce looked over El’s shoulder at a disappointed Hopper. Joyce pulled away and held onto her shoulders. “Are you alright?”

El nodded. “Yes, Mom. Where am I?”

“You were taken by the British and placed into one of those tanks. Everything’s fine.” She looked at Hopper, telling him through her eyes that hey had to get El out of here. “Do you remember anything that happened?”

“I remember you were looking for Callie and Will, Jonathan and I were waiting for you to get back.”

Joyce nodded. “That’s right. Do you remember why we were looking for Callie?”

“Because you were trying to find Dad.” El looked up at Joyce and paused, realisation hitting her before she turned around, registering the fact that the man who pulled her free was her Dad. “Dad!” She leapt up and flung herself at Hopper, Joyce smiling at them both. “I missed you, Dad!” El sobbed into his chest, tears pouring down both their cheeks. Joyce stood up and hugged them both, squeezing them as tightly as she could.

“I missed you too.” Hopper whispered into them both.

“I hate to break this beautiful family reunion up, but we need to get going.” Murray said, making his way down the stairs.

“Callie’s down here.” Joyce took El’s hand and guided her to where Callie was standing, who gave her a big hug.

“You’re OK.” Callie whispered, El nodding into her shoulder.

“So are you.”

“Just about.” Callie smiled at El. “I’ve got one last thing to do and then we can all get out of here.”

El looked at her, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to make the people operating the machine think it’s been destroyed, then we have time to actually destroy it.”

“Are you strong enough?”

Callie paused. “I have to be. I need to get hooked up.”

“No. That’s too dangerous, Callie. I won’t let you do that.”

“It’s the only way, I’ll be fine.”

Hopper moved closer to them. “If there was any other way-“

Callie nodded. “I know. Let’s go.”

They all helped Callie up to her tank, Murray placing the contraption on her head, securing it tightly. Joyce helped Hopper to open the lid before helping Callie into the water.

“We’re here for you, Callie. If anything goes wrong, we’ll pull you out straight away.” Joyce squeezed her shoulder.

“Thank you.” With that, she dipped under the water and closed her eyes.

Joyce, Hopper, El and Murray stood watching when suddenly there was a rumble coming up through the lift shaft. It sounded like chaos had erupted which lasted for a minute or so before everything went quiet. Joyce continue to watch Callie and saw blood starting to drift from Callie’s nose.

“We need to get her out of there!” She said, El following her lead. Hopper and Murray rushed up the stairs, unhooked Callie and opened the lid to the tank, Hopper reaching down and dragging Callie out of the water. Her eyes stayed firmly shut.

“Come on, Callie.” Hopper whispered, taking his shirt off and drying Callie with it. Murray checked her pulse.

“Jim.” He looked at Hopper gravely before Hopper started compressions. After the required number, he pinched her nose, held her chin and bent down to give her mouth to mouth when suddenly her eyes opened and she screamed.

“What are you doing!?” She cried, pushing Hopper away from her. Hopper looked at Murray.

“But, he said- never mind. I’m glad you’re alright.”

They all made their way down to where the others stood, El running up to give Callie a big hug.

“I’m so glad you’re OK!” El said, tears running down her cheeks as Joyce and Hopper embraced both the girls.

“We need to rescue the others as quickly as possible and get out of here.”

They all went round rescuing everyone from the tanks as quickly as they could. They all wanted answers and all the five of them could say was to wait until they were outside. Joyce, El and Callie ushered them all to the lift and started to help them down as many as they could at any one time.

Murray turned to Hopper.

“You all need to get out of here.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ve got an idea, but you need to get everyone to safety. Go.”

Hopper made his way down the lift after everyone and greeted Joyce as the doors opened.

“Where’s Murray?”

“He’ll join us in a minute. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and started to run with her after everyone else.

When they got to the edge of the forest, they helped El and Callie calm everyone else down, trying to explain to them what was going on. Joyce and Hopper caught a glimpse of some movement by the base of the water tower, seeing Murray running as fast as he could towards them, gesturing wildly at them. Suddenly there was a huge explosion that ripped through the air behind Murray, who launched forward and tumbled down. Hopper helped Joyce up, each giving the other a look before sprinting to where they had last seen Murray. They found him on the ground, groaning and rolling around holding his side.

“Murray! Are you OK?” Joyce was immediately at his side, checking him over for injuries.

“Ugh, I think so. I don’t know. Did I look heroic?”

Hopper bent over him with Joyce and caught Murray’s eye. He shook his head.

“You looked more like a flailing turtle who got stuck on his back, but I don’t think anyone else saw. I’ll tell them you’re the hero.”

“Thanks, Jim.” Hopper helped him up and turned to Joyce, enveloping her into his arms.

“You found me.” He whispered into her hair. He felt her nod against his chest.

“Please don’t ever leave me again.” She whispered back. He kissed the top of her head and held her as tightly as he dared.

“I will never leave you. I will never leave our family.”

Joyce pulled away and looked at him before standing on her tip toes and kissed him as hard as she could. He lifted her up and wrapped his arms around her more tightly, making sure she felt safe and secure that he would never, ever leave her again. After they broke apart, Hopper put her down and tucked a stray strand of her behind her ear.

“I love you.” He said, her smile had never been so bright.

“I love you, too. Although-“ she paused, “I quite liked you with a British accent.”


End file.
